


Handcrafted

by unbreakable_groundriot



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Glossed Over Hastur/Ligur, Hinted Beelzebub/Gabriel, Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), M/M, Pre-Canon, Vignette, before the fall - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 06:10:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19901092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unbreakable_groundriot/pseuds/unbreakable_groundriot
Summary: Thousands of years later he slowly started to choose to forget all that he resented from the time before The Fall. He'd made some trouble and he had ineffably been gifted an angel who smiled at him with all the love in the universe. He didn't have time to dwell on the past when he had an entire eternity to remember that smile.In which Crowley remembers much of his life before he was cast out.





	Handcrafted

In the beginning, before She created the Earth she created the Heavens. The Heavens was one vast, infinite building with three floors. The attic would eventually become Heaven. The basement would become Hell. The main floor was Earth and all the creatures big and small that inhabited it. In the beginning, no one liked to visit the basement. They all stayed in the attic and they were happy.

Few angels were handcrafted. Even the Almighty had Her limits after the first few thousand seraphim, cherubim, and archangels. Most angels were born in great legions of identical beings. They heard Her voice only once when She whispered their name and purpose. They felt Her love even if they could no longer hear Her voice.

Crawly was created as one of ten thousand painters commanded by the Archangel Raphael. Yes, he was the first angel to change his incorporeal form, but in the end, he was a nobody. He was one of twenty million. It was the long red hair and the star yellow eyes that caught the eye of the Morning Star: Lucifer. That's what the most bright of them all had told him with a kind smile. In truth, his master had been drawn to him because he had been the first to change his form. He had been the first to rebel.

When Earth had been created She created the final legions of angels to create all the beautiful things in the world. She placed three cherubim upon the walls of the garden. One wall was left unguarded.

It is said that demons could no remember their lives before The Fall. That was, for the most part, true. She had not taken their memories. She took their names and their beauty, but She wanted them to remember. It was the demons who took their own memories.

Hastur and Ligur did not remember being nearly attached at the hip as they walked through the garden creating decay. They did not remember being proud as they watched their tiny creations clean the Garden floor. They Fell together, hands clasped, and chose to forget the joy. The newly formed demons felt only anger, but still, they were together.

Dagon, Lord of the Files, had been perfectly happy to take record of every creation. He remembered flashes of his life before. He had always liked paperwork.

Beelzebub remembered leading the rebels in their charge. They forced themselves to forget the ones they had loved before. They forced themselves to forget everything but the anger and betrayal. There were images of purple eyes that they couldn't quite shake.

Crawly remembered it all. He had stared into a reflective pool of acid and chosen to remember it all. He had not meant to Fall. He asked questions. Why had they been created? Why wouldn't She speak to them? Why was She creating all of this? He had not fought his brothers. He had refused a weapon. He had wept as he watched brothers cleave each other in twain. Some suffered sobbing and screaming. Some disappeared forever.

He remembered watching Her place a white-haired angel upon the wall of the eastern gate. The angel had smiled shyly at every angel that passed him but no one spared him more than a passing glance. Perhaps they were jealous. Perhaps they saw him as little more than an annoying little brother. The youngest angel still smiled.

Lucifer had snapped and snarled, "What made those humans so special that they were to worship them as they worshipped Her?"

Crawly whispered, "Why is that one so special?"

Time meant nothing when you were eternal. She created the Earth in seven days, but those days were not equal to the rotations of the Earth around the sun. The white-haired angel had stayed at his post for an unknown amount of time. Below him Adam and Eve were happy. Above him there was war. He looked into the night sky and smiled at the falling stars. Crowley would never correct him. That angel had been the final angel created. He was an angel who had never seen the true glory of Heaven. He never knew the pain of those who were lost forever in the war. They returned to the place from Before. Demons crawled from the sulfur pits and the first rain might have been the tears of angels in mourning. On Earth, standing dutifully at his post, the white-haired angel smiled up at the stars.

They had sent him up from the basement and told him to make some trouble. The youngest one had been so flustered and shy and untainted by the hell that Heaven had become. Crowley still wasn't sure what made Aziraphale so special that he had been handcrafted by the Almighty. He still wasn't sure why he was allowed to hear Her voice even after his creation.

Thousands of years later he slowly started to choose to forget all that he resented from the time before The Fall. He'd made some trouble and he had ineffably been gifted an angel who smiled at him with all the love in the universe. He didn't have time to dwell on the past when he had an entire eternity to remember that smile.


End file.
